---
title: Why can no food chain start with a cat? — Food chains and food webs · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can no food chain start with a cat? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 26 «Food chains and food webs» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Food chains and food webs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can no food chain start with a cat?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** food chain · **What happens:** start

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 26 «Food chains and food webs» of the world course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t6:1
# text = Why can no food chain start with a cat?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
4	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | can | no food chain |  |  |  |  | with a cat | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with cat=Subeventuality |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat is too big to be eaten

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t6:o1:1
# text = A cat is too big to be eaten
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a cat |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive · passive | a cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V» |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat lives in houses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t6:o2:1
# text = A cat lives in houses
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | a cat |  |  | houses |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in house=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat only eats plants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t6:o3:1
# text = A cat only eats plants
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	eats	eat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | a cat | plants |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cat cannot make its own food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:26-food-chains-and-webs:t6:o4:1
# text = A cat cannot make its own food
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **make** | can | a cat | cat's own food |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Product |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Food chains and food webs, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/t5/)
- next →: [Food chains and food webs, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Food chains and food webs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/26-food-chains-and-webs/)